Toy spoon



June 7, 1966 R. GARDEL ETAL TOY SPOON Filed March 3l, 1964 United States Patent() 3,254,409 TOY SPOON Robert Gardel, 11 Riverside Drive, and Egon Gorsky, 365 E. 46th St., both of New York, N.Y. Filed Mar. 31, 1964, Ser. No. 356,141

` 7 Claims. (Cl. 30-V3Z4) the capacities of the two parts being substantially equal or, at least, comparable. It is considered preferable to locate the deep opaque chamber in the front or tip portion of `the spoon bowl while the shallow part extends lthroughout the middle portion of the bowl. A suitably colored liquid (or tiowable solid) material in a quantity sufficient to fill the shallow part of the chamber, is contained therein, such material being Visible through the transparent upper wall of the shallow part when the position of the spoon has caused it to flow into that part, and being invisible when the position of the spoon is changed to cause the material to flow into the deeper part of the chamber, within opaque walls.

A practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 represents a top plan view of the spoon, in a flat position, part of the handle being broken away;

FIG. 2 represents a longitudinal vertical section through the bowl of the spoon, the handle being in elevation and partly broken away;

FIG. 3 represents a transverse vertical section on the line III-III of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 represents a detail longitudinal Vertical section through the bowl of the spoon, the handle being broken away and the bowl being shown tilted with its tip down, in a position simulating the feeding of a doll, and the contents of the spoon having begun to disappear, and

FIG. 5 represents a side View, partly in section, from a somewhat elevated position, looking down into the bowl of the spoon as it rests in a dish.

Referring to the drawings, the spoon comprises a handle 1, of conventional shape and construction, and a bowl designated generally as 2, all parts being made conveniently of suitable plastic materials although other materials could be used for some parts, as noted below. The bowl edge portion 3 is integral with the handle, is somewhat thickened and is provided with a thinner inwardly projecting rim 4, defining an oval opening. This opening is filled by a lenticular plate 5 which may have a rabbeted edge asl indicated at 6, the upper surface of the plate 5 being a smooth concave continuation of the upper surface of the rim 4, and the plate 5 being substantially thicker than said rim. The bottom of the spoon bowl is constituted by a thin lenticular plate 7, the periphery of which is received in a rabbet 8 in the under surface of the edge portion 3. Throughout most of its area the plate 7 lies close to, but spaced from, the lower convex surface of the plate 5, in order -to define the shallow part 9 of the chamber, while a zone near the tip end of the plate 7 is spaced by a much greater distance from the under side of the rim 4 to define the deeper part 10 of the chamber, all as clearly shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5. The plates 5 and 7 may 3,254,409 Patented June 7, 1966 be cemented or welded around their peripheries to the matching surfaces of -the bowl edge portion 3.

A suitable quantity of Acolored'liquid or flowable solid material 11 is put into the chambers 9-10 through a small hole 12 near the heel end of the plate 7, the hole being plugged and sealed by means of a button 13 the head of which is countersunk to leave the surface of the plate smooth.

In order to obtain the desired illusory effect, the spoon handle 1, bowl edge portion 3 and plate 7 are made of a suitably colored opaque plastic material, while the plate 4 is of transparent material such as Plexiglas. The material 11 may be colored to suggest any desired sort of food, particularly baby food, e.g., shades of green for pea soup or spinach, red for tornato juice or beets, etc.

In use, a child desiring to spoon-feed her doll,- dips the bowl of the spoon into an empty dish 14, brings it to a level position and thus causes the material 11 to fill the shallow part 9 of the chamber, the material being visible throughout the whole extent of the plate 5 and giving the spoon the appearance of being about half full of some sort of food, as indicated in FIG. 5. The spoon is then lifted-carefully, to avoid spilling the contents-to the dolls mouth and is tilted so that the tip of the bowl is lower than the rest (as in FIG. 4), whereupon the material 11 flows into the deeper (and more compact) part 10 of lthe chamber where it is completely out of sight, leaving the spoon bowl apparently empty and ready to be refilled from the dish. The zone of oonnnunication between the deep and shallow parts of the chamber is wide enough so that there is no appreciable tendency for an air lock to develop, if the material 11 is a liquid, and if it is a owable solid (such as the sand used in three minute timers) air lock is impossible.

As a possible alternative form of construction, the spoon handle, edge portion and upper plate 5 could be made as a unit from a transparent plastic material, afterl which all surfaces except that corresponding to the upper plate could be made opaque, as by painting, but this arrangement has certain disadvantages. While the spoon parts are most convenientlymolded from suitable plastics, it is apparent that the opague parts might be metallic if desired.

The spoon shown herein is actually spoon shaped and could be used for picking up and conveying real food in a normal manner, which may or may not be desirable. If such utility is to be avoided, the spoon bowl can readily be filled in (or covered over) with a body or sheet of transparent plastic, either separate from the plate 5 or integral therewith. In the latter case the part corresponding to the plate 5 would naturally be altered to engage the rim 4 from aboveA rather than from below. Under any vof the foregoing modifications the operation will obviously remain the same and the appearance will not be substantially altered.

As a further modification, a surface of the transparent plate 5 (preferably its under surface) can be provided with suitably arranged markings in a color which makes the markings substantially invisible against the background of 4the opaque plate 7, but which stands out clearly when the part 9 of the chamber is filled with a white or light colored material. In this manner the bowl of the spoon may appear to be filled with such `more or less discrete foods as rice or spaghetti.

It will be understood that various changes :may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and Ihence we do not intend to be limited yto the details shown or described herein except as the same are included in the claims or may be required by disclosures of the prior art.

What we claim is:

1. A toy spoon comprising a bowl, an enclosed charnber being formed in said bowl and extending throughout a substantial proportion of the area thereof, part of Vsaid chamber being relatively shallow, being bounded upwardly by .transparent material disposed across the central portion of the bowl, and part of said chamber being relatively deep and being bounded upwardly and downwardly by opaque material, the volumetric capacity of said deep part being at least as great as the capacity of the part bounded by transparent material, and a quantity of a ilowable material suicient to till said last named part being contained in said chamber,

2. A toy spoon according to claim 1 in which the deep part of the chamber is located adjacent the tip of the spoon.

3. A toy spoon according to claim 1 in which the bowl comprises an opaque edge and rim portion, a downwardly convex transparent plate extending across the central portion of the bowl and an upwardly concave opaque plate spaced slightly from said iirst named plate to deline the relatively shallow part of the chamber and the bottom of the relatively deep part thereof.

4. A toy spoon according to claim 3 in which the edge and rim portion is provided with a cavity adjacent its tip adapted to form, with the front portion of the opaque plate, the relatively deep part of the enclosed chamber.

5. A toy spoon according to claim 1 in which the flowable material is of a color. and character such as tol give the visual impression, when said material is in the shallow part of the chamber, that the s-poon bowl contains food.

6. A toy spoon according to claim 5 in which the owable material is adapted to ow by gravity from the shallow part to `t-he deep part of the chamber, and to give the visual impression, when in the deep part, that the spoon bowl is empty.

7. A toy spoon according to claim 5 in which the transparent material is of a color and character such as to cooperate with the owable material, when said material is in the shallow part of the chamber, in giving the visual impression that the spoon bowl contains food.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

JAMES L. JONES, JR., Assistant Examinez'. 

1. A TOY SPOON COMPRISING A BOWL, AN ENCLOSED CHAMBER BEING FORMED IN SAID BOWL AND EXTENDING THROUGHOUT A SUBSTANTIALLY PROPORTION OF THE AREA THEREOF, PART OF SAID CHAMBER BEING RELATIVELY SHALLOW, BEING BOUNDED UPWARDLY BY TRANSPARENT MATERIAL DISPOSED ACROSS THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE BOWL, AND PART OF SAID CHAMBER BEING RELATIVELY DEEP AND BEING BOUNDED UPWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY BY OPAQUE MATERIAL, THE VOLUMETRIC CAPACITY OF SAID DEEP PART BEING AT LEAST AS GREAT AS THE CAPACITY 